Being a novice and not being able to make side by side comparisons doing internet shopping could you guy with more experience please tell me some of the differences between the  hand guards that are available such as Daniels Defense, Midwest Industries, YHM and others. I am not opposed to spending money but do not wish to spend more for something just to have the name such as why would I want to spend $230 for a 4" DD hand guard when I could buy a made in America 4" HG for $50? Is it better barrel mounting systems or such?  For a longer rail that I might mount more things on or cover a can mount I understand but on a hand guard that all I will use it for is a place to put my hand would a less costly one suffice?

Thanks
Tom

I have KAC, Troy, and $50 "Amazon Special" rails. There is a difference in quality, but to be honest, unless you are actually going into battle I don't think it really matters. The $50 one is two piece and is held together with 6 screws. I don't see it going anywhere. I would just get whatever you feel comfortable buying price wise, and put the money you save elsewhere on the rifle such as optics.

Well I think that you are perfectly right in your analysis but I ended up buying Daniels Defense 4" and 9" rails. I had bought a UTG 4" rail before another member had advised against it and put it on a 7.5" 556 build and I think that it will be fine. I will be curious if the DD rail is $200 better. I kinda have a plan for getting a FFL later and use the 300BLK & 308 SBR's as demo's so having the DD rails on them would be good for that but I thinkI would agree the bargain rails would function fine for the average rifle needs and the savings would be better spent on optics. I might get proved wrong when the Daniels Defense rails get here. I know they build great stuff but $235 & $360 is a lot of money. If I had of bought bargain I could have bought a Eotech with the savings.

You may not always get what you pay for, but you never get what you don't pay for.      

I have to say, though, if you truly need to cut some corners it's best to do it on something inert like a rail, rather than something complicated like an optic.   Better yet to just save up and get the optic later.    DD makes really, really nice stuff, I'm sure you'll be thrilled with what you got.

The big differences in forearms are going to be things like materials, overall design, and how true they are dimensionally.  The really cheap rails may have issues mounting things correctly, may rely on a lot of threaded fasteners, will generally be heavier, etc.      

People are willing to shell out $300 for a railed handguard that they can reasonably assume to be in spec, has a good design, and is lighter than the equivalent length plastic handguards.  (I've done so several times and have never regretted it)   If you're only using them to hold rail covers and free-float a barrel, though, then they're not as important.    

There are some decent American made options that don't cost an arm and a leg, though; Midwest Industries is pretty serious about keeping their stuff to a modest price point, and the VTAC stuff also costs less than a typical rail without sacrificing quality.

I would put Magpul furniture on before some piece of crap $50 quad rail.  The difference in a $50 rail and a $300 rail is huge.  Usually in the form of weight.  Personally I have little use for a quad rail and much prefer the modular rails.